A Stoke-on-Trent MP has called for more government support for North Staffordshire's creative industries.

Gareth Snell, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, asked for the area to be formally recognised as a 'cultural cluster', during a Westminster Hall debate.

Mr Snell argued that Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme were already hives of creativity, with dozens of successful companies and organisations working in arts, crafts and digital. In his speech, he went through an 'A to Z' of North Staffordshire's cultural organisations, name-checking the likes of Appetite, B Arts and Stoke-based animation company Carse and Waterman.

He also mentioned how Stoke-on-Trent was recently awarded World Craft City status in recognition of its importance to the global ceramic industry. Mr Snell invited creative industries minister Chris Bryant to visit some of the organisations he listed, and also asked for government support to help them reach their potential.

In 2018, UK Research and Innovation invested £56 million in nine creative clusters around the country, with the aim of boosting growth in sectors such as film, fashion and video games.

Stoke-on-Trent was recently awarded World Craft City status (Nub News).

Mr Snell said: "Stoke-on-Trent was and is the crucible of creativity. We were at the forefront of the last industrial revolution, and we are now quietly and diligently leading our very own creative renaissance in the city and the surrounding area. The last measurement suggested that growth in our creative industries stood at about 6.3 per cent, which is in no small part down to the determination of a number of organisations."

Mr Bryant acknowledged the importance of cultural industries to economic growth in places such as Stoke-on-Trent, and said he would be happy to visit the city's creative organisations. He added: "On whether we will look at creating a creative cluster, my Honourable Friend makes a very good case. We are looking at what we need to do about creative clusters in the next round of announcements next year, so he has made a good bid and my officials are listening very attentively."

Mr Bryant also said that he was making the case for creative industries to be an 'absolutely essential' part of the government's industrial strategy.

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